United Launch Alliance won a $191 million launch contract over SpaceX in an open competition for the Space Test Program 3 mission of the U.S. Air Force, targeting launch in 2019 according to documentation released by the Air Force on Thursday.

Riding on pillars of smoke and fire as it departed Florida’s Space Coast, the most powerful Atlas V streaked towards orbit on Friday to deliver the fifth and final satellite for the U.S. Navy’s Multi-User Objective System.

Riding on pillars of smoke and fire as it departed Florida’s Space Coast, the most powerful Atlas V streaked towards orbit on Friday to deliver the fifth and final satellite for the U.S. Navy’s Multi-User Objective System.

Riding on pillars of smoke and fire as it departed Florida’s Space Coast, the most powerful Atlas V streaked towards orbit on Friday to deliver the fifth and final satellite for the U.S. Navy’s Multi-User Objective System.

The year 2015 saw 87 orbital launch attempts from spaceports across the globe – 84 missions reached orbit in a year that saw 82 successful orbital launches. Here are photos of all of 2015’s space launches.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket thundered into the early morning skies over Florida’s Space Coast on Wednesday, departing Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a long mission to deliver the fourth MUOS satellite to orbit for the Multi-User Objective System. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 41 took place at 10:18 UTC, marking the start of a three-hour ascent mission, aiming for a highly elliptical Geostationary Transfer Orbit.